Dixon's Forum Posts from Dixon

Actually, the SuperVac was created before the WindScoop, out of an antique shopvac.   Originally, the vacuumings just dropped into a tank, and the filter was a bag covering the motor.    It didn’t filter out fine particles, so using it could make the air around you dirty.

The original motor was capable of moving seventy cubic feet of air per minute.    When it wore out, the only replacement available could move ninety, which was fine by me.    I also added a hand-crafted adapter and connector to run a carpet powerhead off the SuperVac.

But it still needed better filtration, so now instead of dumping the vacuumings into the tank, they are collected in a fine filtration shopvac bag, the kind for sheetrock dust.

The motor is covered by an inside-out HEPA bag, which is itself covered by a fine filter.    Of the small amount of dust that gets past the fine filtration shopvac bag, the inverted HEPA bag catches 99.97% of particles larger than 0.3 microns.    After that is another round canister HEPA filter from a DeWalt shopvac on the exhaust port, to capture 99% of the particles that get past the HEPA bag, so the air coming out of the SuperVac is absolutely clean. 

But if you’re still nervous about the half-dozen or so dust particles that may get past the exhaust filter, you can plug another hose onto the exhaust port instead of the filter, as shown here . . .

. . . and blow them out the door.

The WindScoop was created later, because I abhor cleaning up dust, and I detest laying plastic to catch it; that’s messy in its own way, and wasteful to throw away all that plastic all the time, and doesn’t catch all the dust anyway.

All the air around the WindScoop moves towards it at eighty-five or ninety cubic feet per minute, so the fine particles that want to float up to your second-story closets never get the chance.

Here, the SuperVac WindScoop is collecting dangerous dust from sawing old plaster, made of who-knows-what.    Even without toxic substances, the fine particulates from this operation are harmful in themselves, and want to permeate every room.    The SuperVac WindScoop collects it all.    Not a whiff escapes, but dust masks of the N95 variety are still recommended, just in case.

You can also use the WindScoop for a plain old dustpan, and it will keep the air a lot cleaner where you’re working.